The National Farmers Union (NFU) – a long standing supporter of a grid – and Tory peer Lord Glenarthur both want to see water moved from drenched parts of Wales and Scotland to the drier areas of England.

FRESH calls have been made to set up a national water grid to ferry supplies from Wales to parts of the UK now in the grip of a crippling drought.

The National Farmers Union (NFU) – a long standing supporter of a grid – and Tory peer Lord Glenarthur both want to see water moved from drenched parts of Wales and Scotland to the drier areas of England.

The south east of England was yesterday declared to be in a state of drought by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

The region joins parts of eastern England which have been drought-afflicted since last summer, with some reservoirs, rivers and groundwater aquifers in the south east well below normal levels after two dry winters.

Bewl Water reservoir, in Lamberhurst, Kent, which serves Kent and parts of East Sussex, is only 41% full – well below the long-term average of 88% following the driest 10 months since 1888.

By contrast Welsh Water/Dwr Cymru says reservoirs here are 98% full.

Lord Glenarthur, from Aberdeenshire, said: “If there’s an excess of water in one part of the country and a shortage in another it seems to me to be worthwhile exploring the feasibility of [a national water grid].

“We’re able to pipe North Sea oil and gas for miles under the surface of the sea. I don’t know whether civil engineers have looked at the possibility of trying to redistribute the water that’s in excess in some parts and in shortage in others.”

The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), though not in favour of a full-scale grid, does back “regional transfers” of water from reservoirs in Wales to parts of the south east of England using the river network.

Within England, Severn Trent Water – which serves some customers in Wales – is already considering an emergency plan to transfer up to 30 million litres of water per day 80 miles from Birmingham to Newark in the Anglian Water area.

David Essex, water strategy manager for Severn Trent, said: “Technical discussions are underway and this could happen as early as June. By the early spring we will be in a position where we’ll know how much we will be able to support our neighbouring water companies.”

Historically engineering innovations have seen Wales’ water used to supply English cities. Powys reservoir Lake Vyrnwy was built in 1892 by the Liverpool Corporation to supply water to the city.

And controversially around half a century later the village of Tryweryn, near Bala, in Gwynedd, was flooded to provide further water supplies for Liverpool.

The Government is planning to reform water management – its proposals are laid out in the white paper Water for Life.

This suggests removing barriers to trading bulk supplies of water between companies, but says the movements envisaged at this stage are over “short distances”.

Some firms have already started to link their own networks – United Utilities has built a 55km water main between Manchester and Liverpool, allowing both cities to be fed by North Wales and the Lake District.

Jenny Bashford, a water policy adviser with the NFU, said: “We certainly need to manage our water better. There maybe a number of ways how we do this – looking at how we move water around is one of them. Indeed I’d say the water companies currently within their own areas have pretty good structures for moving water around.

“What they don’t have is the structures in between the water companies to move water.”

Water UK, the umbrella body for water utility firms, is against a grid on environmental and economic grounds.

In a policy document last summer they pointed out that, unlike gas and electricity, water is heavy – the average family uses two thirds of a tonne each day – so moving it over large distances would need expensive, energy-intensive engineering works.

Water UK also say transferring large volumes would cause big changes in an area’s ecology and damage wildlife.

Plaid Cymru MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd Elfyn Llwyd said water waste should be targeted and planners should think twice before giving permission for homes in areas affected by shortages – like the south east of England.

He said: “To just carry on building on land where there’s no water seems to me to be a suicidal way to go forward.”

WalesOnline is part of Media Wales, publisher of the Western Mail, South Wales Echo, Wales on Sunday and the seven Celtic weekly titles, offering you unique access to our audience across Wales online and in print.